"No, this was pillow talk with Quinn but Howie knows something is wrong. He believes he's hurting our marriage, threatened to move back to California and tank the whole business. Meanwhile, bastards are raping babies and we're sitting around bitching at each other." She began to cry. After she managed to calm herself she added, "If Quinn didn't realize the magnitude of what we've done and can do, I think he'd buy Howie a ticket out of here. When he gets upset with me, his bar bill goes up. I don't know what to do. You and Betsy have to come back up here!"
I calmed Martha down and both Betsy and I spoke to all three of them, one by one. We agreed there'd be no more sessions unless all five of us were together. Everyone tried a little conciliation. Then Howie asked if we'd try to run a session this weekend, long distance, by phone. Betsy and I reluctantly agreed, also agreeing to travel north the following weekend. Howie was so pleased he promised to send us air fare, eliminating another arduous auto trip.
The weekend phone sessions proved to be a mixed success. While Betsy had located some seemingly compatible cases, everyone wanted to offer input on which ones were the most critical and how or what tip lines we'd utilize. Arguments concerning contact with tip lines became heated as well. Howie offered little and without seeing his facial reaction, I couldn't tell how he stood. I became more frustrated with each passing minute.
When the first two tries proved unsuccessful, tempers frayed even more. Finally, Howie was able to connect with a recently abducted little girl in Alabama. The kidnapper was the child's mother, a drug addict, who no longer had custody and tried to spirit her daughter away. While this was less dramatic than the Timothy snatch, it was an important victory. Later, Howie failed to locate a nebulously described address. Saturday ended with one success in four tries, and a sizeable telephone bill.
Martha had purchased three inexpensive cell phones and offered to make a call to the listed tip line. Perhaps a female voice would offer less chance of a connection to our other calls. We coached her to clearly give the detailed factual information Howie had developed but answer no questions. She was forbidden to engage the operator in any conversation and make the call as brief as possible.
By Sunday, tempers had subsided and five sessions were attempted. There were two successes. The first was strange. A Cleveland mother had reported an infant child was taken from his crib while napping yet when Howie was able to enter the location before and during the alleged time, there was no sign of the child. He felt the mother's demeanor suggested she was preparing a bogus story. We weren't sure what to do or even if we should report Howie's feelings. After too much heated discussion, I agreed to give a less than specific tip saying I didn't believe the child was abducted. I did so from a Times Square pay phone.